There are good films, then there are great films, and then there are films that blow your mind. . . like Ernest Goes To Jail!What film “blew your mind” and why?
Panelist: T-Rav
Depending on how you define the term "blew your mind," I'll cautiously go with The Matrix. If you go into movies without significant prior knowledge of their plot (harder and harder to do nowadays), I think it was maybe the last one that would have completely thrown you a curveball, gone in directions you never expected, and combined that with revolutionary visuals and special effects. It's that WHOA reaction.
Panelist: Tennessee Jed
Blew My Mind?: The first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. When I first started working, there was an older gentleman who was a marketing rep. Heavy alcoholic from the Mad Men school of bourbon drinkers. At the 50th anniversary of D-Day, I saw him honored in the paper as a first waver at Omaha. That film brought home the kind of real combat fear as nothing else I've ever seen.
Panelist: ScottDS
There Will Be Blood, which is an American masterpiece that my friend and I saw, not knowing what we were getting into. Neither of us see movies like this in the theater that often but when the credits began to roll, all we could do was sit there in unblinking silence.
Panelist: AndrewPrice
I'm going with recent find Triangle. I expected total schlock and found something truly inspired. I have seen the film about a dozen times now and still can't figure it all out. This is a film with layer up layer of philosophy and paradox. Bravo!
Panelist: BevfromNYC
Schindler’s List – About twenty minutes into the film I almost left. I just could not take what was happening or what I knew was going to happen. But a little voice inside my head said that I must stay because these people suffered for years and the least I could do was suffer for two hours. I did not know until the end with the visit to Schindler’s grave that many were still alive.
Comments? Thoughts?
All excellent choices. Andrew, your review of Triangle got me to watch it and you are right, it was excellent! And The Matrix was fantastic!
ReplyDeleteTHE DARK KNIGHT. I staggered out of the theater after watching it.
ReplyDeleteAndrew......here are my "Whoa" films over my viewing lifetime:
ReplyDelete* The Exorcist (Holy Crap!)
* Star Wars
* Predator
* Sixth Sense
* Alien
* Lord of the Rings
The last film that really stunned me was Hotel Rwanda, about a hotelier (Don Cheadle) who hides refugees from the Rwandan Genocide in his hotel. I saw it in the theater and was not the only one to have a visceral reaction; a few other people walked out.
ReplyDeletePrior to that, the movie that really sat with me was Requiem for a Dream.
interesting choices, and, as always equally valid in their own way. Rav - I enjoyed the Matrix a lot, (which takes a lot in that genre.) I never could quite enjoy the various sequels quite as much, but that is probably not that unusual.
ReplyDeleteScott - There Will Be Blood is a great film, and one that probably doesn't get the recognition it deserves in the "great" category. more than likely due to the fact the pacing sometimes is slower than much of today's audience prefers. An acting tour du force for D.D-L.
Andrew - since I have yet to see this one, I'm hoping it is now on Blu-Ray since that is my preferred media. I'm still anxious to screen it, particularly since you feel that strongly about it.
Bev - I really like your rationale regarding Schindler, Bev. I am kind of like you were--given the depressing nature of the subject, avoidance. But as you say so well, viewers NEED to know exactly what happened.
Patriot - great films. There is no denying what kind of films are in your wheelhouse :)
ReplyDeleteJed, I think that's actually a pretty standard reaction among most viewers of The Matrix and its sequels.
ReplyDeleteThat first half hour of Ryan is pretty amazing. It's just the rest of the movie I don't care for.
Kit, I don't know if your audience had the same reaction, but I went to watch The Dark Knight opening day (actually late that night because all earlier showings were full), and when the scene early on where the Joker killed a thug with a pencil happened, there was a collective "Ohhhhh!!" and nervous laughing from everyone watching. It was pretty intense to watch in theaters.
ReplyDeletePatriot - The Exorcist has screwed up entire generations of filmgoers, hasn't it? Frankly, just hearing the music or seeing the movie poster...or just seeing in the TV guide listings makes me shake uncontrollably.
ReplyDeletePatriot - Sixth Sense truly surprised me. I didn't anticipate the big reveal, but once revealed the hints all along the way were obvious. Very clever film making.
ReplyDeleteGreat choices, everyone!
ReplyDeleteMost of the films mentioned I saw after the fact so I was already aware of the hype and the big set pieces, etc. Even The Matrix which was released at a time when I was much more enthusiastic about new movies and actively sought out information about them, as opposed to my more apathetic attitude today.
I was 16 when it was released and the theaters were carding again because it was just after Columbine - my friend and I bought two tickets for Entrapment and snuck into the other theater, sitting low the entire time in case someone caught us. :-)
P.S. Andrew - I actually liked Ernest Goes to Jail! I haven't seen it in years but I remember enjoying it when I was younger. (We're big Ernest fans in this house, though the later direct-to-video movies were mostly crap.)
Jed -
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoy There Will Be Blood. For a while, I couldn't go anywhere without hearing "I drink your milkshake!" referenced somewhere.
I think some conservatives sour on it because of the source material (an Upton Sinclair story) or they think it's anti-capitalist or anti-religion. It's more of a character study than a political screed. And the Eli character clearly is a charlatan. I think we all know there are plenty of genuinely anti-capitalist movies out there if people want them. :-)
My friend and I flipped a coin - it was either There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men. Blood obviously won. A few months later, my friend saw the other film and hated it. He called me later, thankful that we made the right decision.
See last week's entry re. Drop Dead Gorgeous, but throwing in A Time to Kill. Predictable ending? Sure. I mean, it is after all an adaptation of a Grisham novel, but the tension on the way to the end had me emotionally spent. Joel Schumacher deserves some of the crap he gets for the movies his makes -- http://www.threedonia.com/archives/46907 -- but this sure isn't one of them in my book.
ReplyDeleteAlso seconding T-Rav's feelings on Saving Private Ryan. Any movie will be hard-pressed to match the combat footage of the opening sequence, but after that, liked the movie much better when Spielberg called it Empire of the Sun.
Eric and Rav - the opening sequence of operation overlord is what I am talking about, not the entire film. It left my jaw completely dropped. Even the compressed DVD Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is incredible on a high end system.
ReplyDeleteScott - I suppose there are some that would dismiss it strictly on political reasons. That never occurred to me, and I read most of his well known major well known stuff in college. I don't believe I know any of them, hence tend to think that number is rather small (note the tongue-in-cheek reverse twist on the New Yorker who says "I don't know anybody who voted for Bush, how could he possibly have won?")
ReplyDeleteDoc, I was blown away by Triangle, I really was expecting nothing more than a slasher flick or something like that and it turned out to be incredibly smart.
ReplyDeleteKit, A lot of people love that film. I was impressed.
ReplyDeletePatriot, That's a really good list. The only one on that list that didn't work for me was Lord of the Rings. I had a lot of issues with it related to the characters and changes that were made, but I'm a huge fan of the books.
ReplyDeleteSixth Sense totally blew me away!
tryanmax, I've never actually seen Hotel Rwanda. I'm not sure why not, but somehow the subject matter just never caught me attention. You say it's good?
ReplyDeleteI'll add EXORCIST and LORD OF THE RINGS as mentioned above. AS well as DOWNFALL.
ReplyDeleteThe opening of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was amazing.
Eric, you are right, EMPIRE OF THE SUN was great. I hope LINCOLN will be a return to form for Spielberg.
got thinking about others I would add: Psycho, Star Wars, Muholland Drive, 2001, Pulp Fiction, 6th Sense, Usual Suspects, Vertigo.
ReplyDeleteKit - with Lincoln, we will know if Daniel Day-Lewis has dialog referencing "war on women, or "someday a man of color will not only hold this office, but get re-elected to a second term."
ReplyDeleteAndrew - Hotel Rwanda was a very good film. Don Cheadle is an actor for whom my respect continues to grow.
ReplyDeleteJed, The Matrix sequels stink, there's no other way to say it.
ReplyDeleteT-Rav, That's how I feel about the Matrix films. The first one was great and the rest just weren't. They had some good ideas, but they just weren't good films.
ReplyDeleteI agree about Private Ryan -- the first half is excellent, but the rest stinks.
T-Rav and Kit, I saw Dark Knight at home, so maybe that made the difference, but I thought it was a solid film, but I never saw it as a great film. It was great as a blockbuster, but I didn't see it as great-great.
ReplyDeleteBev, I have to wonder if younger generations enjoy The Exorcist since it doesn't do the easy scares. It's very psychological and not "shocking" scary and I wonder if that will work with younger audiences who seem more interested in being shocked?
ReplyDeleteOn The Sixth Sense, I actually figured it out almost at the beginning because of film technique -- Willis's belt is crooked and it remains that way in each scene. Knowing how films work, that told me that there is a reason, i.e. something was wrong about his character. Once I realized that the kid could see dead people, I know what Willis was... sadly.
STILL... it was a hell of a horror movie the first time through and a hell of a "missing dad/tear-jerker" the second time through.
Andrew, I've only seen it the one time, but I remember Hotel Rwanda as a very engaging experience. It's based off a true story, which is what caught my attention.
ReplyDeleteP.S. There's a bit of UN bashing but no America bashing in the film. That is also nice.
ReplyDeleteAndrew -
ReplyDeleteI think you skipped my comments. :-)
Re: The Exorcist - I've only seen it once, years ago at FSU in a film discussion group. I liked it... yet I don't feel the need to see it again, probably because I don't enjoy being scared and I know if I watch the film, that's what will happen!
So in that regard, the film still holds some power.
Scott, I'm going to ignore the fact you like the Ernest films! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI think you make an interesting point. I think it's easier to be blown away by a film when you are young. As you get older, you get more cynical and you've seen more things so it becomes harder to impress you.
Scott, I haven't skipped anything, I keep being pulled away from my computer. :(
ReplyDeleteScott, I do not like No Country for Old Men at all. I think that is stupid movie pretending to be brilliant. I do think There Will Be Blood is brilliant however. It's incredibly well acted, all around, and the story itself is painful in many ways, yet utterly gripping. The film basically forces you to have an opinion about everything it does.
ReplyDeleteEric, I still need to see Drop Dead Gorgeous. I agree about Saving Private Ryan incredible intro, not good second half. And I also enjoyed Empire of the Sun.
ReplyDeleteJed, The sound is one area I do have a problem with the opening to Ryan. It's so poorly mixed (as with so many other modern films) with the explosions being so loud and the voices so quiet that they might as well not even speak.
ReplyDeleteAndrew -
ReplyDeleteAh, no worries. :-)
And for the record, while Ernest Goes to Jail was my favorite of those movies, that's no guarantee I'd still like it today. I haven't seen the other ones in years, though.
We even had a poster for the film hanging in the garage for several years. My dad managed to get it from a mom and pop video store that closed down. (Everyone has to have priorities, right?!)
I haven't met anyone who liked No Country for Old Men, now that you mention it. My dad watched it on TV and was disappointed for pretty much the reason you mention. While they've made plenty of good-to-great movies, I'm just not much a Coen Brothers fan. I know that's sacrilegious talk in some circles but I stand by it.
Kit, I have high hopes for Lincoln as well, but we'll see.
ReplyDeleteJed, Excellent additions. Let me also add, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Blade Runner, Jaws, Close Encounters, and Treasure of the Sierra Madre -- which was way more than I normally expect from Bogart films.
ReplyDeletetryanmax, I know it won awards and Jed says it's good, I just haven't personally seen it. The topic didn't interest me, but I'll check it out next time it's on.
ReplyDeleteScott, I think the thing to remember about The Exorcist is not only that it came first, but it's been so closely copied by now that it can no longer surprise. There have literally been a half dozen direct knockoffs and a dozen more near-knockoffs. So it's hard to be surprised by the original when you've seen it done so often and in so many bad films.
ReplyDeleteThe Dark Knight -- one of the greatest movies ever made of any genre. Stunning, shocking, brilliant and totally believable.
ReplyDeleteThe Two Towers -- for the battle of Helm's Deep, one of the best battles ever filmed. Holy cow.
Ghost in the Shell -- simply stunning film that stalks one of sci-fi's grandest game: What it means to remain/be human in an age of super science.
But the one film that blew me away more than any other? The Empire Strikes Back. The first time I saw those Imperial walkers lumbering onto the screen in 1980, I was transfixed. Still am. I still have the original AT-AT that my Dad got for me; last Christmas, I bought my boys the super-deluxe AT-AT from 2010. ("Boys" includes yours truly, of course!)
Andrew: vis-a-vis your comments regarding the Matrix sequels, I never can understand why you always pull your punches (l.o.l.) Another observation as I read everybody's comments is the variety of different ways people interpret the question being raised. By that I simply mean some people can interpret it to be which films an individual consider the very best of the best while others might feel it is a film that may not stand up all that well, but left them emotionally spent. Pretty neat question, I think.
ReplyDeleteScott, I like the Coen Brothers generally, though not always, but this just wasn't a good film. What it was, was a film which idiots could watch and read a lot into and think that they took some super-secret meaning. That's why the critics just RAVED about it and why so many wannabe hipsters claimed to love it. But it is a shallow movie with no meaning or insight and a plot that barely rates it above generic action movie. The only thing that makes it stand out is that it is an action movie done very, very slowly... it an inaction movie.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The Ernest thing was a joke!! LOL!
ReplyDeletemy thought is if I had been at Omaha Beach in the first wave, the explosions probably would leave the participants half way deaf anyway. An interesting audio comparison might be with Master & Commander's initial attack and battle sequence which I consider outstanding. However, I don't really want to blow the money on Saving Ryan in Blu-Ray just to get the soundtrack in a lossless audio format.
ReplyDeleteForgot one: Blazing Saddles -- Instantly became a favorite before I even finished watching it the first time (years after its theatrical run), but became legendary and my all-time favorite comedy when that insane ending blew me away. Talk about breaking more than the fourth wall.
ReplyDeleteTHAT'S how comedy is done!
Ernest Scared Stupid is a great movie, and if you disagree you're just wrong. Period. Also Ernest Saves Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to see Argo in the next week or two. Everybody's said that movie is really intense and has you on the edge of your seat, and the story is fairly interesting. Maybe it could fall into the "mind-blowing" category.
Big Mo, I have to agree about The Empire Strikes Back! That was a heck of a film and those walkers took my breath away. Then you get the asteroid chase, the unexpected romance between Han and Leia, the amazing city of Bespin, the betrayal, the loss of Han, and the shock of finding out who Luke's father is. That was an incredible film from start to finish and I wanted to see it again before it even finished!
ReplyDeleteScott, I love O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and I really liked what I saw of Fargo as well. Or maybe I mainly liked the musical score, not sure. Anyway, I do like a lot of what the Coen brothers do, though maybe not all of it.
ReplyDeleteJed, I always like who everyone interprets these questions differently. That's what makes it interesting to read everyone's answers!
ReplyDeleteYes, I do my best to pull my punches! LOL!
Jed, The problem is that Ryan was made in a period where the sound people decided that everyone has these massive home studios and is willing to sit there with the sound loud enough to make their eardrums burst. I just don't watch movies that are made that way because I get nothing out of them because I'm basically left watching them on mute or so low that I can't make out the words. And I am not alone. Everyone I know -- young and old -- complains about the sound on modern films.
ReplyDeleteThey should give out "worst sounds" awards.
Big MO, I love Blazing Saddles, but I saw it the first time on television -- heavily edited. So I had a hard time being blown away by it. But I still enjoy it very much to this day and I still laugh at all the jokes.
ReplyDeleteT-Rav, I'm intrigued by Argo and I plan to see it.
ReplyDeleteYes... the Ernest films are all-time classics. LOL!
T-Rav, I liked Oh Brother a lot and Fargo was great. I also liked Hudsucker Proxy and Big Lebowski.
ReplyDeleteAndrew...." Let me also add, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Blade Runner, Jaws, Close Encounters...."
ReplyDeleteExcept for Close Encounters your additions definitely make it on my "Whoa" list!! ..and Blade Runner just keeps getting better and better every time I see it (have seen it dozens of times in the last 30(?) years. "Time to die"
... the Matrix sequels stink, there's no other way to say it.
ReplyDeleteI think you meant to say "stink on ice". I was blown away how the squeals undermined the original so completely that I lost all urge to was it again. It became obvious that "Matrix" was a happy accident and the Wachowski's, while having a great visual sense, are hacks as writers.
Andrew, et al -
ReplyDeleteYes, I know the Ernest thing was a joke. :-)
A friend of mine just saw Argo and loved it. "It's nice to know Hollywood can still make good non-franchise movies for adults," was his comment.
I love The Hudsucker Proxy but I think that's mostly because of the style they were going for (40s screwball), not to mention the gorgeous production design. It also has one of my favorite lines of dialogue:
"Only a fool thinks he knows things about things he knows nothing about!"
I feel like the Wachowskis are one-hit wonders. The Matrix was great, the sequels--well, they speak for themselves--V for Vendetta was flashy but not great, etc. I don't know what to make of this Cloud Atlas that's coming out. It looks like another one that's all spectacle and no substance.
ReplyDeleteSo, NYC will officially shut down as of 7pm tonight. I am officially hunkered down now.
ReplyDeletejust for the fun of it, I went down and listed to the landing sequence from Saving Pvt. Ryan. Can you jack up the sound to ear drum shattering levels? Yes. Is the mix of bullets and explosions heavy? Absolutely. Would I want to sit through two hours of a battle sequence. Not just no, but hell no :) That said, your judgement is a bit harsh. I tried listening at different sound levels, and at no time was I unable to determine what the leaders were yelling. And make no mistake, they had to yell to be heard. Again, I go with my initial reaction. It was one of the most realistic depictions of one of the most important military engagements in the history of our country, and left me awestruck. I agree there are many crappy soundtracks where dialog is garbled with ambient sound for no reason, but this was not one of them.
ReplyDeletePatriot, I love Blade Runner and I keep enjoying it more every time I see it. :)
ReplyDeleteClose Encounters was one of those films I grew up with, from which I still remember a dozen images. But I can see where others wouldn't care for it.
K, Very true. The Matrix sequels do an immense amount of damage to the original film. I think that without the sequels, The Matrix would be seen as one of the top science fiction films of all time. But with the sequels having undermined it repeatedly, it now feels like a good but not great film. It seems to have lost its "inspiredness".
ReplyDeleteScott, I like, "You know... for kids." LOL!
ReplyDeleteTo me, Hudsucker is the perfect mix of a stylized film and a real film. It's just real enough that you can get behind the characters, but it's stylized enough to give it a neat vibe.
T-Rav, I largely agree, though I did like Bound a lot and I'm one of the few who enjoyed Speed Racer.
ReplyDeleteI have no real hope for Cloud Atlas. It looks disjointed and like they uses stars to hide the lack of a plot... bad sign.
Best of luck Bev! If things get really bad, we'll rent a huge snowblower and come get you!
ReplyDeleteWatch out for the Yetti! ;)
Jed, I am by no means alone in this complaint.
ReplyDeleteBev, good luck! :-)
ReplyDelete---------------
I was recently asked about my thoughts on Cloud Atlas. My stock answer is, "It can either be awesome or a total clusterf---." I'm sure I'll see it eventually but it's definitely not on my priority list.
I barely recall Speed Racer but I think my reaction at the time was, "Well... that looked... pretty." I should probably see it again one day - it's one of those movies where you either get it or you don't and if you don't, then there's nothing anyone can do for you.
The villain is played by a British actor named Roger Allam - I didn't think much of him at the time but he's excellent in the BBC political satire The Thick of It, which is on Hulu in its gloriously profane entirety and of which I'm a huge fan. :-)
Bev, will they be grounding the black helicopters?
ReplyDeleteScott, I'm one of the few people who "got" Speed Racer. I can't even tell you why, I just like it. I recognize that few people will ever like it, but I enjoy it a lot.
ReplyDeleteI have little hope for Cloud Atlas and the more I hear about it, the less interesting it sounds.
Andrew and Scott, I'm not even sure that there is a plot. The previews I keep seeing are saying "Our past affects our present...Our present determines our future." Um, yeah? Don't most people believe some form of that statement? Is that a plot? Or maybe a theme?
ReplyDeleteAlso, speaking of the actors--I don't really have a problem with the casting choices, to the extent I know who they are, but can we please stop using poor Hugo Weaving as the go-to sinister guy? It's called typecasting, people, and it's normally not a good thing.
I also agree about The Dark Knight. Saw it in the theater, and it was jaw-dropping. Heath Ledger was a-maz-ing. Plus that feeling that they got the threat of senseless terrorism violence...
ReplyDeleteSaw Saving Private Ryan at the theater too - that first bit was over-whelming. I think I started crying about 5 minutes in. I think that's also why I really WANT to like the rest of it.
In a more specific way: Act of Valor. I think because I knew the "actors" were for real, it managed to have a grittier realness than other shoot-em-up movies. I'm used to "suspending belief" and accepting movies in their realities - this one was reality.
I'm sure that there are others over time, but I can't think of them now.
Bev, be safe!
T-Rav, When I see a lot of famous faces, I usually take that as a sign that they are hiding a bad plot with a high fame quotient.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the plot, it doesn't sound like has one... like The Fountain.
T-Rav, I couldn't agree more. I don't know if there's a 3rd Tooth Fairy film in the works, but if there is, Hugo should be the Tooth Fairy. Also, it should be in 3D, because that's what you do with the third film in a series nowadays.
ReplyDeleterlaWTX, I still haven't been able to see Act of Valor, though I really want to.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of 3D, another film that really impressed me was Resident Evil: Afterlife, not because it had stellar acting or an unexpected plot by any means, but because it is the first and only movie I've ever seen where the director/cinematographer actually used 3D to great effect. I actually ducked in my seat when an axe-wielding monster took a swing toward the audience.
ReplyDeletetryanmax, I'm going to ban you from the site if you ever praise Resident Evil: Afterlife again!
ReplyDeleteOh, good grief!
ReplyDeleteT-Rav - Yes, the black helicopters will still be flying. They can fly in any kind of weather. As a matter of fact, they carry the super secret weather making machines.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could go back to being 9 and hearing and seeing the Imperial Destroyer rumbling off the top of the screen as it disables Princess Leia's Rebel ship... I knew then I was about to see something amazing. I will never forget it.
ReplyDeleteA lot of others of course Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler's List have been mentioned -- and rightly so.
I was able to see Patton on a giant screen in Dolby sound back in college... I had seen to a lot on TV and on VHS, but I never got the epic scope of it until I saw it on the big screen. Patton was an epic -- up there with Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, et al.
Ditto Ben Hur... the chariot race on a big screen an Dolby Surround is mind blowing -- I don't care how many times you've seen it.
I was a huge U2 fan in college -- Rattle and Hum blew me away -- under appreciated concert film.
To the Honorable Mr. Brown, Esq.
ReplyDeleteWe have a zero tolerance policy.
Bev, The black helicopters are indeed amazing. I got on used once. It has a donut maker in the dashboard (right next to the 'legal tender suppression device'). :)
ReplyDeleteFloyd, That was an amazing moment. When that star destroyer suddenly showed up, you knew you were about to see something truly incredible and the film did not disappoint!
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd seen a lot of the epics in the theater, but I never got the chance.
tryanmax, well, duh. It's movie number three, and they call it "3D," so how could you NOT go for that?
ReplyDelete(You may laugh at my sarcasm, but this is almost certainly what goes through the heads of executives at movie studios everywhere.)
T-Rav, That's why they rarely get to a fourth film because few executives understand how to sell 4D.
ReplyDelete"tryanmax, I'm going to ban you from the site if you ever praise Resident Evil: Afterlife again!"
ReplyDeleteIs this how all my comments praising the cinematography and acting in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones disappeared?
No, Lucas came through and "improved" the site and that's when those comments vanished. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's also when JarJar Binks began commenting. :(
entirely OT: the last 2 minutes of Cowboys' games are hard on my fingernails and my tummy!!! As a friend stated on fb: "Robbed!"
ReplyDelete/rant over
if the 'Boys would play the WHOLE game with that intensity they wouldn't be 3 and 4 or whatever their awful record is!
/rant REALLY over
I thought it was a touchdown. I don't think his finger were truly down because they were rolling and by the time his hand steadied, it was in bounds. Plus, it seems kind of lousy that a couple fingers would make him out.
ReplyDeleteT-Rav, Andrew, The issue with 4D is that the fourth dimension is smell.
ReplyDeleteI understand this greatly diminishes Brad Pitt's box-office appeal.
Andrew - THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete(sorry for yelling)
ReplyDeleterlaWTX, fortunately Commentarama hasn't yet entered the second dimension, so your yelling doesn't hurt anything.
ReplyDeleteLike Floyd, I sat in a theater in Waco, TX the first day Star Wars opened and sat there open mouthed watching the action unfold.
ReplyDeleteThe opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark was absolutely spellbinding the first time I saw it. Mind officially blown at that time.
About Saving Private Ryan and the sound...in case you didn't know it war is loud. Soldiers today wear special ear plugs.
Finally I saw Argo last Sunday. It was very good, but if you are a conservative you might skip the credits. After talking about the CIA operative and the events portrayed in the film, Jimmy Carter's voiceover is heard out and out lying about the resolution of the Iranian hostage crisis, which is odd considering how easily his statement can be checked. That still pisses me off a week later.
The movie that blew my mind the most was the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. Though it blew my mind in the idea that a movie could suck that much. Normally if I'm not enjoying a movie I'll turn it off but TDTESS was so bad I couldn't turn it off, I had to see if it could get worse. It did. Somehow. I have no idea how.
ReplyDeleteScott.
Scott - "Burn after Reading" has that honor from me... we sat there and waited to see if it would get better - because how could it get worse - but it did get worse!
ReplyDeletetryanmax - thanks for your reassurance that my ranting and yelling harmed no innocent bystanders...
Movies that blew my mind in a good way are
ReplyDeleteThe Usual Suspects - Very well thought out.
The Empire Strikes Back - I loved the walkers but the blow my mind part for me was the ending. To quote Clerks "It ends on such a down note", how many movies would end that way? It made you excited to see Jedi (which didn't live up to it).
The Sixth Sense - I didn't guess the ending but I knew something was going on, very well done, also loved Unbreakable.
The Matrix - And yes the sequels sucked and have taken away from the original.
Pulp Fiction - I loved the plotting though a lot of people didn't and loved the dialog.
Hong Kong actions movies - not one specific movie but the genre as a whole. I have always loved action/martial arts movies and lapped up everything from Hollywood, but when I discovered HK action movies at a new video store (I was about 13) I realised that movies I loved were average and quite often stole bits of the HK movies. And over time as HK action movies got more popular they resulted in an improvement of Hollywood action movies. The Matrix would not be as good without HK action movies.
I also agree with tryanmax about Resident Evil: Afterlife, it was the best 3D I'd seen though I'm not a fan and don't use it as I hate putting glasses on my glasses. Plus I like the RE movies, all of them. But not mind blowing.
Scott.
Primal Fear
ReplyDeleteI had to scoop up grey matter from the floor at the end.
Andrew - I understand your comments about not seeing epics in the theaters. As a kid, going to the big palaces in Philadelphia for films like Ben-Hur, Big Country, Around the World in 80 Days was special.
ReplyDeleteYou need to visit East Tennessee for some of the old epics. Although only an 8 seater, the acoustics, 1080P can give you a reasonable impersonation :)
Outlaw - looking forward to Argo.
ReplyDeleteFloyd - The chariot race from Ben-Hur is about as epic as it gets. The restoration that was done a few years ago, and blu-ray conversion did a fabulous job of recreating it. It is hard to believe that movie was made in 1958/1959.
rlaWTX, I barely remember Burn After Reading. I remember it had a famous cast (as commented about earlier this usually means weak script) and that it was just plain stupid.
ReplyDeleteBut I would watch it 10 times in a row without a break before I ever sat through the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still once.
Scott.
To me Seven was mind blowing, especially the ending...even though you could see it coming.
ReplyDeletetryanmax, I thought 4D was a Democratic report card? ;)
ReplyDeleterlaWTX, I am to please... plus, the Cowboys got robbed.
ReplyDeleteOutlaw, I know that war is loud, but war films don't need to be as loud as the war itself. The first time I watched Ryan, I still had a condo and we couldn't watch it because we had to turn it up so loud to hear the voices that within five minutes, both neighbors on either side complained. That may be authentic, but it's bad film making.
ReplyDeleteScott, LOL! I was going to say, "you liked that film?!" Man, did it ever suck. I agree with you that it sucked beyond belief. I was really amazed how awful the film was, especially given the solid premise from which it was taken.
ReplyDeleterlaWTX, I did the same thing! I kept waiting for Burn After Reading to get better and it just didn't. It's like waiting for punchline that never comes.
ReplyDeleteYes, no innocent bystanders were injured! LOL!
Scott, Excellent list! I agree about Empire, it really set the stage perfectly for Jedi, but Jedi disappointed me a lot. That probably should have been the first warning about the prequels, but I missed the glaring red lights at the time... I just knew it wasn't as good as it should have been.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, Saving Private Ryan. Honestly, the scene where hos family in the beginning of the movie in Normandy's cemetery organized with the same precision as Arlington . . . he collapses to his knees. I am reduced to tears every time I watch it.
ReplyDeleteThe scenes that follow tell a story of resolve and jitters that humble me. They just did it, because it had to be done. There is nothing more humbling on life then when I saw them on the beach, doing their jobs, when everything was erupting around them.
The story that followed, could be said of any other unit during that invasion. I have never been more moved by a movie.
Jed, If I ever get that way, I will absolutely drop by to catch some movies. :) You sent me a photo once and your theater looks truly impressive!
ReplyDeleteKMKhaine, That was indeed a good one.
ReplyDeleteOutlaw, I saw Seven with no idea what it was about. We were just looking for a movie, it was showing, so we went. That was a heck of a film!
ReplyDeleteJon, The opening scene is truly dramatic and it's hard not to cry when you hear the mother being told her sons have been killed.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom took us to see Jaws, and it was a good thing she waited until the weekend before school started.
ReplyDeleteWe spent most of our summer days at a conservation club that had a lake, and the following summer wasn't enough to erase the memories of the movie.
The only way I was able to get over my fear of going into the water was a sleeveless T-shirt I wore (to keep from getting burned) that had Jaws on the front of it. Then, I got to pretend to be the shark. There were even some boys who would say "Hey, there's Jaws!", and I wasn't always wearing that shirt.
Oh, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. I'd seen it before but seeing it in theaters this August with my dad was probably some of the best fun I've had in a theater.
ReplyDeleteAside from the incredible slow and almost painfully dull "Beautiful Girl" scene it was a lot of fun.
Saw LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in theaters not long ago as well. Wow.
THE ARTIST, while maybe not mind-blowing, was also fun. More people need to see this movie.
"Jon, The opening scene is truly dramatic and it's hard not to cry when you hear the mother being told her sons have been killed."
ReplyDeleteThe scene when she finds out about her sons is like a punch in the gut. Steven Spielberg makes the scene heart-breaking without a single line of dialogue.
Augh, Burn After Reading. I forgot about that one. Yeah, sure that's a "comedy."
ReplyDeleteI would say something about the Giants-Cowboys thing--but I don't like the Cowboys. So I'd better not.
Andrew, last I looked movie are made to be seen in a theater, not your home. :-)
ReplyDeleteJen, Stay out of the water.
ReplyDeleteOutlaw, Where would DVD sales be with that kind of attitude? ;)
ReplyDeleteKit, That is probably Spielberg's most effective emotional moment.
ReplyDeleteT-Rav, Yeah, that was a crappy film. I'm not a big Cowboys fan, but that struck me as them getting robbed.
ReplyDeleteKit, is "Beautiful Girl" the "modern" section where he chases the woman? I love that movie except for that part - it'd be neat to see it on the big screen. (that section is visually stunning, but not appreciated by me in the middle of that movie)
ReplyDeleteT-Rav, when I am Queen of the World (see Bev's article for my comment RE QotW status), there will be no Cowboy Hating allowed. Besides, Jerry Jones won't be allowed to own them anymore either, which will help immensely!
ReplyDeleteStar Wars. I was ten when it came out and it was a B-movie with an A-movie budget. Wow. I was living near Los Angeles at the time and it ran for a year straight in at least one theater.
ReplyDeleteBatman- the Tim Burton/Micheal Keaton one. Dark, moody, gothic. It was a far-cry from the t.v. series.
The Matrix. Both the story and fights made you go "Whoa".